Dedicated to the Business of Contemporary Live Music
THE COMPETITION and Markets Authority (CMA) has ordered controversial resale website Viagogo and eBay-owned StubHub to halt their merger while it continues its preliminary inquiry. Protests to the CMA after Viagogo’s £3.9 billion ($4.05bn) takeover of StubHub was announced in December, prompted it to investigate the impact of such an…
Read moreTHE GOVERNMENT has revealed plans for a new music strategy to support the UK’s “brilliant creators”. A debate focusing on the economic and social importance of music took place in the House of Commons earlier this month, in which Culture Minister Nigel Adams addressed post-Brexit touring, the Copyright Directive and…
Read moreTHE GOVERNMENT has announced that small and mid-sized venues across the UK should benefit from a cut in business rates from the spring, as part of a broad package of measures to help small pubs, restaurants and high street retailers. It says premises in England and Wales with a rateable…
Read moreCROYDON COUNCIL has denied claims that the refurbishment of the Fairfield Halls complex could end up costing the taxpayer £60 million. According to the website Inside Croydon, during a council meeting earlier this month, Labour council leader Tony Newman refused to deny the £60m figure when confronted by Conservative opposition…
Read moreMILTON KEYNES council has rejected the latest planning application threatening the future of The Stables (cap. 438), a live music venue founded by world-renowned jazz musicians Sir John Dankworth and Dame Cleo Laine 50 years ago. Developers Abbey Homes applied for a Certificate of Lawful Development that would have allowed…
Read moreONE OF the country’s oldest and best-known venues, The 100 Club (cap. 350) in London, has become the first music venue to be given special status, thanks to a new scheme launched by Westminster City Council. The Oxford Street venue, which has hosted live music since 1942, has been granted…
Read moreTHE WAREHOUSE in Leeds has reopened following redevelopment and a £250,000 investment in production infrastructure. The venue, which is celebrating its 40th anniversary, now boasts three rooms with a capacity of 600 for live music events and 1,100 for DJ-led events, a new sound system, lighting fixtures, a video wall…
Read moreBRITS WEEK and O2 for War Child returns to venues across London around The BRIT Awards, which take place on 18 February, with proceeds from the shows going to the charity War Child. The sixth edition of BRITS Week features Catfish and the Bottleman playing the first show at new…
Read moreMORE OF the conference programme has been revealed for the invitation-only International Live Music Conference (ILMC), taking place at the Royal Garden Hotel in London between 3 and 6 March. This 32nd edition of the event will feature over 100 speakers and 40 sessions including 2020 Vision: The 10-year view…
Read moreARTS COUNCIL England (ACE) and charity Julie’s Bicycle will be holding a climate action summit for the cultural and creative community, with speakers including Jamie Oborne, manager of The 1975 and co-founder of the Dirty Hit label, and Brian Eno. The event, We Make Tomorrow, will take place on 26…
Read moreTHE NEC Group has agreed a deal with pay-as-you-go energy provider Utilita to become naming rights partner of Arena Birmingham (cap. 15,800). From 15 April, the arena will be renamed Utilita Arena Birmingham, the second to be branded by the company after Utilita Newcastle Arena (11,000). Utilita has also partnered…
Read moreFESTIVAL REPUBLIC’S gender-balance initiative ReBalance will support International Women’s Day by offering those wanting a career in music the chance to meet other women in the industry. ReBalance Celebrates International Women’s Day will take place on 8 March at London’s Union Chapel (cap. 900) in Islington, and feature performances from…
Read moreTHE O2 (cap 23,000) in London has been named Venue of the Decade by US music industry publication Billboard, beating New York’s Madison Square Garden (20,780) and Radio City Music Hall (6,013) as runners-up. The venue kicked-off 2010s with Bon Jovi performing on the roof and has hosted over 2,000…
Read moreFESTIVAL REPUBLIC (FR), promoter of events such as Reading (cap. 90,000), Leeds (80,000) and Latitude (35,000), has applied to stage a three-day, four stage festival in Dundee’s Camperdown Park in May. Owned by Live Nation Entertainment, which also owns Scotland’s leading promoter DF Concerts and its Glasgow festival TRNSMT (50,000),…
Read moreSEVERAL INDUSTRY organisations have submitted evidence for a preliminary investigation into the proposed takeover of eBay-owned StubHub by controversial resale website Viagogo. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) launched the inquiry into the $4.05 billion (£3.11bn) deal in December, along with an invitation to comment until the 10 January. The…
Read moreFESTIVAL REPUBLIC is expanding its ReBalance scheme to give additional live support to emerging female artistes. The three-year initiative, which was launched in 2017 in partnership with PRS Foundation, initially offers successful female applicants one week’s studio time with an engineer and expenses paid, plus a performance at a Festival…
Read moreUK MUSIC CEO Michael Dugher is stepping down after almost three years leading the music industry trade body. Since joining the organisation in 2017, Dugher has campaigned to change planning laws to protect music venues, challenged the government over the impact of rising business rates and supported the establishment of…
Read moreMANCHESTER INTERNATIONAL festival (MIF), the multi-venue event showcasing a spectrum of arts, has appointed Jane Beese as head of music. Her previous roles include head of music at London’s Roundhouse and head of contemporary music at the Southbank Centre, for which she was responsible for the co-ordination and…
Read moreINTEGRO GROUP, one of the largest insurance brokers internationally, will be changing the name of its sports and entertainment division to Tysers, following the acquisition of the 200-year-old insurance company in 2018. Since launching in 2005, Integro has acquired a number of live entertainment-related companies, including Robertson Taylor, Doodson, Allan…
Read moreED SHEERAN’S manager Stuart Camp has given evidence against two ticket touts who bulk-bought tickets to the artiste’s charity show and sold them for almost four times their face value. Peter Hunter and David Smith are alleged to have used fake names and addresses to buy more than 1,000 tickets…
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